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06-21-2007, 05:27 PM
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U.S. faces growing pressure over online gambling
The Associated Press
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
GENEVA: The United States should face commercial sanctions worth more than $3.4 billion each year for its failure to comply with a World Trade Organization ruling that its Internet gambling restrictions are illegal, the Caribbean nation of Antigua and Barbuda said Wednesday.
Japan and India, meanwhile, added extra pressure on the United States by filing WTO compensation requests as a result of Washington's attempt to change the details of its obligations under the 1994 General Agreement on Trade in Services.
The two Asian countries and the European Union, which filed a similar request Tuesday, complain that the unprecedented legal move by the United States of deleting part of an agreed-upon treaty has to be accompanied by a commitment to open up other trade sectors.
The United States, which said it was still trying to resolve the dispute with Antigua, made the move to remove online betting explicitly from the services agreement after losing a WTO ruling last year.
WTO officials said they had received Antigua's request but were unable to provide details on its contents.
Antigua said the sanctions would take effect "shortly," unless the United States requested a WTO arbitration panel on the level and scope of the sanctions.
"While we realize this is a significant step for Antigua and Barbuda to take, we feel we have no other choice in the matter," Errol Cort, the finance minister of Antigua, said in a statement. "We have fought long and hard for fair access to the U.S. market and have won at every stage of the WTO process."
"This industry has been and can be regulated," he said, adding that the dispute was not a moral issue, as claimed by the United States. "Until such time as the United States is willing to work with us on achieving a reasonable solution to this trade dispute, we will continue to use every legitimate remedy available to protect the interests of our citizens."
Gretchen Hamel, spokeswoman for the U.S. trade representative in Washington, said, "We will continue to work with Antigua and Barbuda to try to find a mutually satisfactory resolution to this dispute."
Antigua argues that before the ban was introduced, online gambling provided income for hundreds of its citizens and helped end its reliance on tourism, which was hurt by a series of hurricanes in the late 1990s.
Last year Washington stopped U.S. banks and credit card companies from processing payments to online gambling businesses outside the country.
The decision closed off the most lucrative region in a market worth $15.5 billion last year. About half of the world's online gamblers are based in the United States.
The WTO in December ruled that the law was unfairly focused on offshore casinos, telling the United States it could keep restrictions against sport betting in place if they were also applied to American business, like operators of remote horse betting.
In a 215-page decision in March, a three-member WTO compliance panel sided with Antigua by ruling that Washington had failed to change legislation that unfairly affected offshore casinos. The trade organization had said that Washington could maintain restrictions on online gambling, as long as its laws were equally applied to U.S. operators offering remote betting on horse racing.
The move by Antigua comes a day after the European Union told the United States that it too wanted compensation for the U.S. ban on foreign online gambling sites. But an EU official said the concessions Europe was looking for would likely be "commitments" to open up other trade sectors.
"We need new concessions that would be equal with the benefits lost," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to be quoted by name in media reports.
Initial negotiations would focus on measuring the loss to European businesses, he said, warning that talks would take some time.
U.S. faces growing pressure over online gambling
The Associated Press
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
GENEVA: The United States should face commercial sanctions worth more than $3.4 billion each year for its failure to comply with a World Trade Organization ruling that its Internet gambling restrictions are illegal, the Caribbean nation of Antigua and Barbuda said Wednesday.
Japan and India, meanwhile, added extra pressure on the United States by filing WTO compensation requests as a result of Washington's attempt to change the details of its obligations under the 1994 General Agreement on Trade in Services.
The two Asian countries and the European Union, which filed a similar request Tuesday, complain that the unprecedented legal move by the United States of deleting part of an agreed-upon treaty has to be accompanied by a commitment to open up other trade sectors.
The United States, which said it was still trying to resolve the dispute with Antigua, made the move to remove online betting explicitly from the services agreement after losing a WTO ruling last year.
WTO officials said they had received Antigua's request but were unable to provide details on its contents.
Antigua said the sanctions would take effect "shortly," unless the United States requested a WTO arbitration panel on the level and scope of the sanctions.
"While we realize this is a significant step for Antigua and Barbuda to take, we feel we have no other choice in the matter," Errol Cort, the finance minister of Antigua, said in a statement. "We have fought long and hard for fair access to the U.S. market and have won at every stage of the WTO process."
"This industry has been and can be regulated," he said, adding that the dispute was not a moral issue, as claimed by the United States. "Until such time as the United States is willing to work with us on achieving a reasonable solution to this trade dispute, we will continue to use every legitimate remedy available to protect the interests of our citizens."
Gretchen Hamel, spokeswoman for the U.S. trade representative in Washington, said, "We will continue to work with Antigua and Barbuda to try to find a mutually satisfactory resolution to this dispute."
Antigua argues that before the ban was introduced, online gambling provided income for hundreds of its citizens and helped end its reliance on tourism, which was hurt by a series of hurricanes in the late 1990s.
Last year Washington stopped U.S. banks and credit card companies from processing payments to online gambling businesses outside the country.
The decision closed off the most lucrative region in a market worth $15.5 billion last year. About half of the world's online gamblers are based in the United States.
The WTO in December ruled that the law was unfairly focused on offshore casinos, telling the United States it could keep restrictions against sport betting in place if they were also applied to American business, like operators of remote horse betting.
In a 215-page decision in March, a three-member WTO compliance panel sided with Antigua by ruling that Washington had failed to change legislation that unfairly affected offshore casinos. The trade organization had said that Washington could maintain restrictions on online gambling, as long as its laws were equally applied to U.S. operators offering remote betting on horse racing.
The move by Antigua comes a day after the European Union told the United States that it too wanted compensation for the U.S. ban on foreign online gambling sites. But an EU official said the concessions Europe was looking for would likely be "commitments" to open up other trade sectors.
"We need new concessions that would be equal with the benefits lost," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to be quoted by name in media reports.
Initial negotiations would focus on measuring the loss to European businesses, he said, warning that talks would take some time.